It was a proud moment for the US Navy to see its new recycled battleship sail into New York harbor this week. The USS New York built using steel from the World Trade Center weighs some 25,000 tons and cost the Navy $1 billion. The 648-foot-long ship has incorporated nearly 7.5 tons of steels reclaimed from the ruins of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Constructed in Louisiana, the battleship with the length of two football fields completed a five-day voyage to New York from Virginia for its official commissioning on November 7. It also received a 21-gun salute near Ground Zero. It is a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel, capable of carrying 800 marines with helicopters. Initially it was supposed to undergo construction before the 2001 attack but the project was put on hold in order to recycle and incorporate the steel from the Twin Towers. The US Navy named the battleship after New York as a tribute to the victims of the attack.
Other ships by the US Navy that have also been named to commemorate the September 11 attacks are the USS Arlington, which was named to honor victims who died at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and the USS Somerset, which commemorates the county in Pennsylvania where the hijacked United Airlines flight 93 crashed.
Via: Decon Label
